The Navy proved its mettle as a credible force to reckon with in the 1971 war, proving its combat efficiency. Hence the Navy’s tableau at the Republic Day parade aims to showcase its role during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, said Vice Admiral S.N. Ghormade, Controller of Personnel Services.
This coincides with the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh being observed as ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’. Coinciding with the celebrations, a tri-service contingent of the Bangladesh armed forces is taking part in the parade on Rajpath this year.
Operation Trident
“The forward part of the tableau showcases the attack on the Karachi harbour by missile boats. The attacks were undertaken as part of Operation Trident on December 3 and 4 night and Operation Python on December 8 and 9 night,” Vice Admiral Ghormade said. The tableau depicts a missile boat firing the missile and also the route taken by the attacking units during both the operations as track charts on its sides.
The rear section of the tableau illustrates the Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant conducting flying operations with Sea Hawk and Alize aircraft. “The air operations from Vikrant led to sizeable damage to ships and shore installations of East Pakistan and contributed immensely towards the liberation of Bangladesh,” Vice Admiral Ghormade said.
The tableau was an attempt to highlight the most significant aspects of naval operations conducted during the 1971 war and pay rich tributes to those who were involved in these, he added.
The tableau will also showcase photographs of eight naval awardees of Maha Vir Chakra, one of which was posthumous, and also murals on the sides of trailers depicting various ships that participated in the war, commando operations (Operation X) undertaken by the Navy along with Mukti Bahini and the surrender ceremony at Dhaka.
